Gay rights advocates closely watching Kalamazoo vote

Jonathon Gruenke | The Kalamazoo GazetteAndrew Grayson, of Grand Rapids, and other members of One Kalamazoo stand at the corner of Pitcher and Michigan in downtown Kalamazoo on Thursday evening holding signs trying to gain support from people to vote in support of anti-discrimination ordinance. To the left of Grayson is Anna Marek, 18, of Grand Rapids. With a mixed track record on the issue in Michigan, local gay rights advocates are closely following Tuesday’s referendum in Kalamazoo on a gay protection ordinance.

Activist Andrew Grayson is taking it one step further.

“I think this would send a message that Kalamazoo is a welcoming place,” said Grayson, a 21-year-old senior at Kalamazoo College and 2006 graduate of East Grand Rapids High School.

As co-leader of the school’s student Democrats, Grayson helped register nearly 400 new voters and is a familiar volunteer at the headquarters of One Kalamazoo, the organization fighting for passage of the measure. He is also co-leader of a student gay advocacy group.

“Were it to lose, it would send a very strong negative message to people. It would be a devastating blow.”

When the Grand Rapids City Commission added the phrase “gender orientation” to the city’s civil rights code in 1994, a petition drive fell just 188 signatures short of forcing a citywide vote on the issue.

But Hamtramck voters rejected a similar ordinance a year ago and the Jackson City Council in August rejected an anti-discrimination ordinance aimed at curbing bias on the basis of sexual orientation, HIV status or gender identity.

In Kalamazoo, opponents forced a referendum when a group called Citizens Voting No to Special Rights Discrimination turned in more than 2,000 signatures opposing the measure approved earlier by city commissioners. The ordinance outlaws employment, housing and public-accommodation discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identification.

Opponents believe the same social conservatism that led blacks to support a ban on same-sex marriages in California could be pivotal in Kalamazoo.

“Our polling says they are the group that most agrees with us on these issues,” said Gary Glenn, head of the American Family Association of Michigan, a conservative organization that opposes the ordinance.

Glenn said he spoke to a ministerial association last week that was predominantly made up of black pastors.

“Our message was very warmly received,” Glenn said.

Kalamazoo resident Charles Ybema, who organized the petition drive against the measure, said Tuesday’s vote is about “privacy rights.”

“What happens when a cross-dresser or a man who thinks he is a woman thinks he has a right to go into a women’s restroom? This law certainly provides special privileges for men who think they are women.”

Colette Beighley, assistant director of Grand Valley State University’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Resource Center, is optimistic the tide has shifted in favor of gay rights. She noted the Kalamazoo vote comes just days after President Barack Obama signed into law a measure extending federal hate crimes law to include crimes motivated by a victim’s gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

Beighley posts updates on the Kalamazoo referendum on the center’s Web site and through group e-mail lists.

“The Kalamazoo story is a national story. I am very hopeful about the changes that are coming. Any time a city passes this kind of law, it does send a message.”